" 'To Max. I'll always love you. Liz.' " Lonnie read the caption on the back of the picture that Rath found in Max's sock draw. The picture was of a cute brunnet with doe like eyes and a sweet innocent smile, very plain Jane, but cute.

"Liz...." Rath repeated as he took the picture from Lonnie and look at it again.

"She ain't got nothin' goin' on," Lonnie said casually in her thick New York accent.

"Yeah, well, I'd do her." Rath commented with a smirk. But at this moment he was hornier than a teenage boy finding his father’s stash of porn. The long drive from New York to Roswell with Ava in the backseat made it difficult for him to get with Lonnie. He liked having an audience but Ava would bitch at them for being too loud. She was fuck’n cramping their style just because she ain’t got none, but Rath knew how to share.

"Fine. Do her, but don't kill her. What we're doin' here is important. Don't screw it up," Lonnie stated as they heard a voice calling from outside of Max's door.

Before the door opened, Rath jumped on the bed and slid to the other side, hiding himself. He got off the floor, peaked over the bed and raised his hand to blast the person who entered the room. He saw an older man talking to Lonnie as if he knew her. That's his bitch, she can always handle herself. Scooting closer to hear what Lonnie and the old fart were talking about his knee hit a box that was under the bed. He fished the box out to see it filled with pictures and papers. Max the sentimental wussy king, keeping love notes from his bitch, Rath laughed at the thought of Lonnie writing him a love letter. All Lonnie needed to do was wiggle her ass and they were getting it on! Rath didn’t need this bullshit.

He took a handful and started shuffling through them. Liz, Liz, Liz and Max… Lonnie’s dupe and Max…. whoa! Who’s the mo-fo hottie! Rath flipped the picture around and nothing. He searched through the rest pictures and found another one, but she looked different, her hair was short. Although she looked younger with the short hair he knew it was her, how could he miss those lips. She had her arm around Max’s boring ho, both wearing a waitress uniform with antenna balls. He flipped the picture over and read ‘Liz and Maria, ’99.’

Maria. Now that girl definetly got it goin' on. Just looking at her picture was causing some major space problems in his jeans. Thanks goodness for commando. He flipped through a couple more pictures and found one of her with a group of people. He noticed that his dupe’s arms were around her waist as her hand was placed on his chest and a quizziness formed in his stomach. He angrily threw the pictures in the box and got up to join Lonnie.

Yeah, that bitch wants a piece of him.
***

He spotted her right away. She was facing the lockers, but he still could see a third of her face and that hair was a dead give away. What' up with these boring pricks in Alien-ville. They have no style, boring brown hair, boring clothing, but he gotta admit, she had a tight little ass.

"Whassup? You look tight," Rath whispered as he snuck up on Liz.

"Excuse me? Did...oh, my God, Michael! What is with your hair?" Liz rambled as the turned around to see a freaky-looking Michael in front of her.

He smirked at her remark; he always had the ability, to surprise people, keeping them on their feet. And he loved it, thrived on it!
***

Maria rounded the corner to see Liz talking to a strange guy. She had never seen him before; she would definitely recognize someone who dressed that badly. What’s up with that Mohawk? Liz didn’t look too comfortable talking to the person, her face contorted in all different ways making weird facial expressions. She had to do something to help her friend.

Maria straightened her shoulders, hung her head high, and marched towards Liz and the weird guy.

“Hey Liz!-” she yelled. Two heads turned to her direction and her mouth dropped, “Oh My GOD! Miiicchhhhh-”

Before Maria could make another sound, Rath wrapped his arm round waist and press her tiny body against his larger frame. He took a lingering look into her green eyes and understood why his dupe had a thing for this babe. She was totally fuck-able, wearing a short and tight dress that left nothing to the imagination. The look in her eyes amused him, most girls feared him, like Liz did, but he could tell that Maria was nothing like Liz. He dropped his eyes and drank in Maria’s overly pouty lips. Rath slowly snaked out this tongue and slowly licked her bottom lip. He continued to open his mouth and kissed her hard, running his tongue along hers, only slowing down to nibble on her bottom lip.

She looked at him with half closed eyes. Was this her Michael? They’ve been off and on, it was hard to tell. Their relationship had always been passionate, but Michael would have never so publicly kissed her in that way except for that one time during sophomore year. But the person before her with the piercing, tattoos, and Mohawk! Mohawk?

She half-heartedly tried to push him away, but he kept her close with his arms still holding her tightly, Maria turned to see an awestruck Liz looking at them.

“Liz, ahm… we’ll talk about this later. K?” was all she said as she took Rath’s hand and led him towards the eraser room door. The hall had emptied as all the other students went to class before the tardy bell rang, so only the dumbfounded Liz was left to see the door close behind the couple.

As soon as the door closed Rath pinned Maria against it and with a wave of his hand, he locked the door, without taking his eyes off of her. She took a long look into his eyes, not knowing what to expect, but anticipating the best. All she saw was an animalistic passion and hunger.

“Michael-” was the only word that was heard as Rath muffled her mouth his own. She was lost in his kisses. He was devouring her mouth with such urgency that she was having a hard time breathing and his tongue ring was added to that sensation. His hands were anything but gentle as they were running up and down the small of her back and mauling her cheeks. He used his other hand to lift her leg so she could wrap it around his waist. In this position, it was easy for him to show her how turned on he was, which was evident as he rubbed against her.

Maria was only able to breathe when Rath went south and started to nibble on her neck and collarbone causing her blood to raise a few more degrees.

“Michael-” she said breathlessly, “-what’s going on? Why are you dressed like that?”

Rath took his mouth away from her neck and looked intensely at her, “Shhhhhhhhhh…” he whispered in her mouth, “-you talk too much,” and started kissing her again. Taking one strong hand, he lifted her up so both legs could wrap around his middle as his other hand held her close to him. He had full advantage with her in that position; she was wearing a dress that was now bunched up above her waist. His hand rubbed the full nakedness of her leg and ass cheek, pushing her harder against him to add pressure to his already hard erection. Rath finally placed her on the huge janitor sized sink as her hand snaked down to unbutton his jeans.

He backed up just a bit so she could have better access as his hand cupped her ass cheek. Moving her thong to the side, he ran a finger up and down her slit. Her breathing got heavier as he slipped his finger in, which only made her grip firmer around his cock. Rath tried to add another finger but was hindered by her thong. She whimpered as he slowly took his finger out and waved his hand. Going in for the kill, he attacked her mouth while adding two fingers without any trouble.

He broke away from the kiss and commented, “Ain’t this shit better then dumb ass school?”

Maria’s face took a sudden change, she pushed him away and she hopped off the sink. Rath turned to grab her back into his arms but was pushed away. For a small girl, she had a lot of spunk, he liked that!

“"Whassup, Babe! I thought we were kickin' it,” he said with a smirk.

Maria hurriedly tried to straighten her clothing and hair; then gave him a devilish smile and look. She pressed up as close as possible, without causing any more trouble. “I’m late for my test, no thanks to you” she said softly while placing kisses on his neck. “I have no idea what's going on with you. And this! So we’ll talk and finish this later tonight, ok? I promise it'll be good!” she stated as she kissed him hard, almost taking the wind out of him.

He wasn’t going to let go of her that easily. He pushed her back trying to pin her against the door, but she was too quick. She unlocked and opened the door and slipped out before he could grab her again.

“Epic!” Rath smirked triumphantly as he zipped up his jeans and licked his fingers clean.
***

Running out of the door, Maria couldn’t get rid of the stupid grin on her face until she ran head on to an unmovable object. Her books scattered in all directions when she lost her balance and fell on the floor. Quickly kneeling, she picked up her books so she could get to her class before it was too late to take her test. Reaching for her history book she finally noticed the pair of worn Doc Martins in front of her. Slowly looking up, she saw a very pissed-off Michael.

“What’s the matter with you?” Michael asked sternly.

But the surprised look on her face shocked him even more. She looked energized, on edge and sexy.

She was speechless. She didn’t know what to make of it. Was she seeing double? Maria looked behind Michael to see another Michael leaving the eraser room, stuffing a blackish material into his pants pocket. He winked then rolled his pierced tongue out to wave 'bye'.

It was Michael’s voice that brought her back from her daze. “Maria?” Michael questioned loudly.

Quickly Maria moved her hand to her mouth to stiffle her shock as she looked at Michael with big eyes. She muffled something about being late for a test as she scampered away, distancing herself from him.

Michael stood in the middle of the hallway scratching his eyebrow in confusion of the blonde one; he could never quite figure her out. Looking around, he found the closest restroom. He needed to release some tension; damnit, she always did this to him and damn those teenage hormones.
***

Clutching her book as close to her body, she ran into the nearest restroom, relieved to find it empty. Looking in the mirror, she was blushing profusely realizing that her underwear was missing.

PART 2

Reaching in his pocket Rath made sure he still had it. Usually he would dematerialize the material to nothing more than dust, but this was a prize to keep. She left so fast that she didn’t know she was missing it, which amused him. He always had that affect on people. He inhaled; her smell lingered in his nostril, making him harder. Rath had to find Lonnie soon; he didn’t want to waste a nice hard on. Clutching the material tightly in his hands his thoughts mulled over using Maria’s thong, but he didn’t want to get it dirty, not yet.
***

The end of the day bell couldn’t ring soon enough. It had been a very long day and trying to avoid everybody made it even longer. She spent her lunch period hiding in her car and looking for another underwear; she kept a few items in her car just in case of emergencies. Maria really wanted to go home, but she had had another test that she really couldn’t miss, since she wasn’t doing all that great in that class, but she really doubted she did any better since the incident this morning raddled her.

Bolting out of the door as fast as her legs could take her, she went straight to the parking lot, knowing that Liz would be buzzing around her locker waiting for her. She managed to avoid Michael a few times in the hallway during the day; she knew he was looking for her. Michael would usually be the last one to be seen in the hallway, but he was there, looking. She was about ten feet away from the door when she heard her name called. Quickly looking behind her she saw brown flowy hair and that made her walk faster until she was pulled into an empty room by strong arms.
***

Liz was sure her friend had been just right here, but Maria disappeared. Walking out to the parking lot, Liz noticed that the Jetta was still there. Something was wrong. She just knew it! Liz was determined to wait for Maria at her car until she saw Max walking towards her. Spotting Alex, Liz ran towards her childhood friend and hitched a ride home with him. She didn’t want to deal with Max today plus she could always talk to Maria at work.
***

A large hand was over her mouth to muffle her scream that was lost to fear. She only calmed when she recognized the ring. Chills ran up her spine as she realized that it might not be Michael, that it could be the other Michael, the one from this morning.

He felt her fear; her body was too tense, so much that it was vibrating through her. He took away his hand and slowly turned her around. Her face was ghostly pale but that soon went away when he embraced her to warm her up.

She quickly pushed him away and smacked him hard on the head.

“Ouch! Why’d you do that for?!” Michael yelped as he rubbed the spot where Maria hit him.

“YOU FREAKED ME OUT!”

“And you are trying to avoid me.”

“I’m not avoiding you” Maria said, as she tries to stair him down.

“You weren’t at lunch.”

“Why do you all of the sudden care?”

Shifting his eyes to the side, Michael asked, “-what’s going on Maria? You’re freaked out about something.”

“I skipped lunch because I had another test to study for, I’m freaked out because I had two tests on the same day and now if you could get out of my way, I need to get ready to go to work!-” Maria said agitatedly as she headed towards the door.

Michael moved to position himself between the door and Maria and looked at her sternly and stated, “-Maria… if you need me, if you are in any kind of trouble…”

Maria looked up at him and squinted her eyes and finally nodded.

“Promise?”

“Yes”
***

She didn’t want to be there. She had to cancel her performance for this meeting. Didn’t she get enough of this weird alien stuff with Michael’s double? And now Michael was stealing glances at her from the corner of his eyes. He knew something was up, but she was able to satisfy him with her excuse, right? She wasn’t even paying attention to what Max was saying, his droning voice made it even harder for her to concentrate on Max.

Everybody’s head shot up as Alex nervously descended the stairs, it was only after a booming voice from above that spoke that they understood why Alex was so creeped out. Maria took a step back as Max asked, “Who are you?”

Lonnie answered while smacking on her gum, “We're you.”

“I...I don't understand...” Isabel stammered in surprise as the three dupes lined up in front of the group.

“They're shape-shifters-” Michael said surmising why they were seeing doubles.

“I know you must be buggin' out right now, 'cause I'd be buggin', too.” Lonnie said as she tried to calm them down.

“How can this be?” questioned Isabel.

Thinking out loud, Michael concluded, “Eight… eight, there were eight pods originally.”

The world went hazy as Maria finally realized what Michael was saying. He had told her about the pod when he took her to the granolith chambers. But why are they here, why did Michael’s double seek her out, how did he find her, how did he know who she was- questions upon question rushed through her head, only when she heard the others introducing themselves did she awake from her dazzled state.

“ I'm Max-” was all he said to introduce himself.

“How did you lose your Max?” Isabel asked the doubles since there was not a Max double with them.

Rath explained, “-He died in a stupid accident. You know, all his powers, all his abilities, and, you know, he died in a street accident. For nothin'. Yo, I'm Rath.”

“Lonnie.”

“Isabel-” she said as she uncomfortably shifted her glances.

“I'm Ava-” she said sadly.

“Tess.”

Liz and Maria gave each other a knowing look and it was the pleading in Maria eyes that made Liz concerned, but she understood that the secret needed to be kept.

“This is Michael, and these are our friends: Alex, Maria, and Liz-” Max said as he looked back at them.

“ Uh, we met-” Maria said quickly, not noticing that Michael was looking back and forth at her and Rath.

Laughing, Rath apologized, “-sorry about that. I was, uh...I was just trying to get the lay of the land.” Looking at Max, “something's cookin'...something that's gonna affect all of us. Could we talk in private?” The group stood there, stunned as Rath and Max walked up the stairs to Brody’s office.
***

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me-” Liz said as she stiffled her voice to a whisper.

“I didn’t know what to tell you! I didn’t even know what to think!”

“Maria. I can’t believe that we worked the whole day together yesterday and you said everything was fine and you didn’t give any explanation why you disappeared yesterday and all you can say is this!. How could you keep me in the dark?”

“Why are you making this about you? I’m confused, OK. I had NO idea. I mean, it happened so quickly and I guess I missed Michael and our quazi-relationship. I was just happy and with all the crap that is going on in your life, I didn’t want you to bother with mine.” explained Maria as she sat down next to her best friend.

“I’m sorry Maria… I’ve been so consumed and I guess I’ve never noticed your pain. Thanks for being there for Max during the summer. I just… I just can’t deal with him and Tess right now.”

“I know… I know-” Maria comforted Liz as she put her arms around to hug her long time friend.
***

He watched her as he hid behind the wall. She was interacting with brown ‘n boring and the more he watched the more intrigued he was by her. Her head went up as he coughed to get her attention. He jerked his head to motion her over to him. She whispered something to Liz and Liz’s face took a look of concern, but it seemed that Maria was able to smooth it out because she was heading his way.

“Yo, wasszup?” Rath said with a sly smile as he backed up, hiding himself behind the wall.

“You stupid fuck! How dare you do that to me!-” moving forward she smacked him across the head then folding her arms in front of her chest. She casually looked around to see that both of them were somewhat hidden. She could make out Max as he was talking to the others. It was dangerous that no one could see them, but she really needed to talk to Rath, get things straighten out. Maria didn’t want anybody to see her with Rath. So it was good nobody could see them, especially not Michael.

“Aah! Yo, Rath likes foreplay-” he said as he rubbed the spot where she hit him. “You were totally bitch’n for me and if I’d kept my mouth shut, you would’a creamed in my hand.”

“OMG, you are so repulsive! And the only reason you were able to even get me was because you remotely resemble Michael. I can’t believe I let you kiss me and for that matter, touch me!” Maria exclaimed as she waved her hand around in exacerbation.

“Yeah, I think we did a little more than kiss and touch babe-” Rath smirked as the pulled the black thong out of his pants pocket and dangled it in front of Maria’s face.

“Gimme that!-” Maria yelled while lunging forward to take back her underwear from the pierced-Mohawk-freak.

Instead of moving back to get out of her reach, Rath moved forward, wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed her up against the wall to pin her with the weight of his body. He leaned down and gave her a kiss that she would never forget.

The kiss only lasted a matter of mere seconds, but it seemed so much longer. Maria tried to push him away but he was too strong. It was the opening of the metal doors of the UFO center that pulled Rath's attention from his captive.

Looking into her eyes, Rath gave her a lazy smirk and said breathlessly, “RIGHTEOUS!”
***

“What the hell is this?” Brody questioned as he walked towards the group of teenagers standing around.

“Morning-” Max said in hopes to divert his boss’ attention to him and away from the others.

“What? Is there a party going on? Funny I wasn't invited, seeing how it's my building. And who are you?” he said as he looked at the freaky-pierced Michael look-a-like standing next to Michael.

“Uh, Brody, this is my, uh, twin brother… Bob,” Michael explained.

“I didn't know you had a brother.”

“I live in New York-” Rath said in his New York accent.

“Well, that explains the hair. Now who can explain what you're all doing here?”

That was Maria’s clue. She was feeling extremely weird and didn’t want to be there a minute longer. She wasn’t even sure if Michael saw what Rath just had done and wasn’t ready to deal with Michael. This was her only escape, although Brody was a little on the strange side, but that might help get his attention away from the others.

Maria smiled brightly as she greeted Brody, “Hi.”

“Hi!” greeted Brody, smiling back at her, surprised by her presences there.

“Um...you know how you asked about lunch?”

“ Uh-huh-” he replied with a goofy grin on his face.

“-Well, how do you feel about having a little breakfast?” she asked as she laced her arm around his and turned towards the stairs.

“Stay as long as you like,” Brody said to the group without taking his eyes off of Maria.

“You want me to kill him for you?” Rath said to Michael, although he felt like killing Brody for himself.

A flood of nervousness rushed through Michael's body as he looked at what just happened. “I'll get back to you on that,” was all that he could say as he looked at the two leaving, feeling like his chest had gotten the air squeezed out of it.

PART 3

“I’m coming over.”

“No… I’m OK. I just needed to talk.”

“You sure? I can’t believe he’s taking Tess. But at least he came to talk to you before he left?” she said uncertainly, hoping to make her friend feel better.

“Yeah… I know. I should be happy, but I feel like something wrong is going to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, it’s just a feeling.”

“Hmmm…”

“Hey, I’m tired. Thanks for listening -Ria.”

“Any time sweetie. Call me if you need me.”

“Night.”

“Night.”

Maria sat there staring at the phone. So much had happened in a span of three days. They had just met the Dupes on Saturday, now Max was leaving with them to go to New York City. Knowing aliens definetly makes life interesting.

The tapping noise pulled her attention from her thoughts. She turned around and looked outside of her window to see him standing there, hidden by the shadows. She sat on her bed looking intensely at the man outside her window; she took a moment before deciding to walk over to the window and open it, then walking away without saying a word.

He climbed in with little trouble. The room seemed smaller with Michael standing there looking at Maria as she sat on the edge of her bed with her arms crossed in front of her. Tilting his head to the side, Michael scratched the invisible itch on top of his eyebrow with his middle finger. He often did that when he was thinking… concentrating… trying to find the right words. “He’s going with them... Max. To New York.”

“I know… just got off the phone with Liz.”

“Oh…” was all he said as he looked and waited for her to continue.

“She’s not taking it well Michael. What happened?”

“I don’t know. One minute he was staying in Roswell and the next he’s going with them-” he said as he sat down on the chair near the vanity. “Everything's been so, so-”

“Bizarre,” she filled in.

“Yeah-” Michael sighed as he rubbed his face with his hands.

She saw it in his eyes. The weight of the passed few days were in them. He still had questions, but she could tell that he didn’t want to push her; he was worried about her and needed to know if she was ok. It was so hard to keep secrets from him, especially when he knew something was off kilter. She moved up on her bed and patted the area that she just vacated, motioning for him to join her.

Maria lost her balance as the bed shifted to accommodate Michael’s weight when he sat down. He quickly caught her in his arms before she could fall off the bed. Lifting her up, they caught each other’s eyes and all the reason why they should not be together were lost as she gently kissed him.

Michael broke away from the kiss and searched her eyes, wondering. They matted foreheads as she sighed, she needing to tell him the truth.

“Michael… I have to tell you something,” she said as she got off the bed.

He leaned forward on his knees as he watched her pace back and forth, waiting for her to continue.

She looked at him to make sure he was listening and continued, “-something happened on Friday.”

Michael straightened his back as chills ran down up and down his spine.

Before Michael could say anything Maria stopped him with a motion of her hand. She continued, “-let me finish this before you say anything. I did meet that pierced-tattooed one before Saturday.” She let out a sigh as she looked at Michael.

“He came up to me and I thought it was you-” she rambled, “You, I mean… he caught me off guard and he kissed me and we ended up in the eraser room and I didn’t know it was another Michael until I collided with you in the hallway. And then at the UFO center he kissed me again before Brody got there. I know we are not together or what ever you want to call this thing we have, but I feel so guilty hiding this from you.”

Michael watched as tears started to pool around her eyes and streamed down her face. She was so hurt; hurt for something she had no control of.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness… I just wanted you to know. But I hate lying to you and I didn’t want this to affect us,” she said through her sobs.

Michael wrapped her in a hug as he made soothing noises and rubbed her back. It felt good to have her in his arms. His heart ached at the knowledge that she was in pain and that he was a cause of it. He lowered his head and asked, “he didn’t hurt you did he?”

Her head shook no as her body relaxed from the release of the truth. Michael kissed the top of her head then led Maria to the bed and sat her down. Kneeling down beside her he titled up her face and whispered, “sleep.”

Nodding in agreement, Maria laid down as Michael took the covers and tucked her in. He then went to turn off the light when he heard her speak, “Michael… stay.” He turned around to see her looking at him. Taking off his jacket he joined her as she snuggled up against him, lulled asleep by his heartbeat.
***

He needed to go, but it was so hard to leave her. She looked so beautiful and at peace sleeping in his arms and it ached to know that he had never felt anything like this before. He gently removed his left arm from under her head, only stopping when she moved and let out a small sigh. Picking up his jacket that he discarded on the floor, he walked around the bed towards the window. Michael had to turn around to look at her one more time before he left, and was surprised by a pair of sleepy emerald colored eyes looking up at him. The moonlight lit the room in a dreamy softness that was caught in her eyes that asked him where he was going. Taking a few steps towards her bed, Michael kneeled down so he was eye level with her. Her movements earlier caused little strains of blond to fall delicately around her face, making her look innocent, childlike. Michael used his fingers to move a few stray strains, which had fallen hap-hazardly on her face, behind her ear. His fingers lingered as it caressed her cheek down to her jaw line.

The whole time Maria watched him without blinking. She had always known that Michael was never much of a talker, but it was in these moments that his true feeling for her came in waves. His gentleness and love for her were there in his eyes. But there was more, something she had never seen before, something she could not name.

“I have to go,” he said softly.

She nodded.

Lightly kissing Maria’s forehead, Michael said his goodbyes and left through the window.
***

He began to walk the lonely streets, wanting to put some distance between him and Maria’s house. She was floating in his thoughts and when he tried to push them out, it only made it worst. He finally stopped to stand in the shadows of the trees, blending him with the surroundings. Surveying the area, he made sure no one was around. With a wave of his hand Rath changed back to himself.

Rath walked aimlessly, he knew the others were waiting for him, they needed to get back to New York, but he had too much emotions running through his body. He came there for one purpose only, a quickie before a long ride back, but he left feeling more weight then he did before getting there. He had never felt like this before and didn’t know what to make of it. With Lonnie it was always about sex and who was on top, but with this Maria girl, it was more. He knew that all her feelings were never for him, they were for his dupe, fuck’n lucky bastard, but he could always hope.

Rath chuckled at the irony of where his legs took him. Looking through the window, the saw his dupe lying on the couch, watching TV in the dark. The tub flicked from channel to channel never staying on a channel too long. He moved towards the door, unlocking it with a wave of his hand and walked in.

PART 4 “What do you want,” Michael said in an annoyed tone.

“Yo! Duke, wassup!”

Michael jumped off the couch in surprised. He was expecting Max; never did he think that it would be Rath. He lifted his right hand, ready to defend himself.

“Yo. I ain’t here for no fight. I needs to talk to you.”

Michael raised a questioning eyebrow and sarcastically said, “yeah right.”

“Whatever man, believe me or not, ain’t my problem.”

“Well make it short, I have more important things to do,” Michael said in a bored tone as he picked up his remote that had dropped on the floor and slumped on the couch again.

Hooking this left thumb in his belt loop and scratching his right eyebrow, Rath slowly processed what he wanted to say to Michael. Since Michael didn’t seem to pay him any attention Rath strolled around the room and noticed little pieces of her scattered around. Picking up a picture frame he studied the picture then threw it over to Michael, who caught it easily. Michael gave Rath a look of irritation as Rath spoke, “You’re one lucky prick, you know that ‘aight?”

“Will you get on with what you came here for, then leave. Don’t you have to go back to New York with Max,” Michael asked. He was trying to contain his temper, but was quickly loosing the battle with Rath going through his personal space.

“This ‘ain’t got nothing to do with Maxie, Yo. I came here to talk to you about yo bitch.”

Once more Michael quickly got off the couch and faced Rath as his hands clenched into a tight fist. His jaw tightened as his eyes burned, daring Rath to continue.

Rath let out a booming condescending laugh, “Got your attention, didn’t I?-” Rath asked as he eyed Michael’s reaction. “I’ve done nothing to her that she didn’t want, yo.” Rath smirked for he knew he was getting his dupe really pissed off. Rath’s self gratification shortly ended as his body flew backwards knocking against the wall then hitting the floor in a loud crash.

Slowly Rath got off the floor. He looked up to see Michael’s his right hand raised and ready for the next blow. Rath narrowed his eyes, have under estimated his dupe’s powers or maybe over-estimated his own. He wrapped this right arm around his stomach, nursing the pain as he finally got on his feet. With one quick move of his hand, Rath pinned Michael against the opposite wall with his powers. Holding Michael in place, Rath glared at his dupe, challenging him to move. Rath knew that Michael couldn’t move and was more than happy to keep him that way. Flaring his nostrils, Rath said, “ I told you, I’m ‘ain’t here for no fight. Got that!” Rath looked at Michael once more to see if he understood and was about to release him when Michael nodded in acknowledgment, but decided against it.

Rath walked around the couch, sat down and looked at Michael and wondered what the fuck this dupe had that he didn’t have. They were the same but not the same. They could be twins, but it wouldn’t have mattered, she only saw him.

“I would let you go, but I’d don’t wacha to be doing nothing stupid. So listen up, yo. Like I said, you’re one fuck’n lucky bastered. You’ve got this totally fuckable bitch that you’re treating like shit. The worst thing is that you know you doing this crap to her and she wants you back. Whassup with that fuck? Now, if that was me, I would’a dump your sorry ass a long time ago. Since that ‘ain’t me, I’ll try to enlighten you on somethin'.

“See, before I came here, I’d made a little stop at her house.-” Rath felt the rush of power radiating off of Michael, he had to adjust his powers to stabilize Michael. “-See G, she didn’t know it was me since I was you. Yo, all I wanted was a little somethin' somethin', before my trip back.” Rath noticed Michael's jaw clench tighter. His dupe was strong, but not strong enough.

Rath continued, “- Yo, we ‘ain’t done no shit, so you can cool it with the jealous crap. Anyways, she started to blabber about how guilty she felt lying to you and how she hates keeping shit from you. Then she started bawling man.

“You’re probably wondering what happened. Let just say I faked being ya more than once and she fell for it. She only found out later, and was fuck’n pissed.

“So when I saw her earlier and saw how hurt she was-” Rath lowered his voice into a whisper, “-I… I felt bad for making her feel that way. And I saw things in her eyes. Things that I’ve never seen anybody ever give me. At first I was consumed with this happiness, but then I realized that it wasn’t for me, it was all for you.” Rath looked up at Michael. Michael was no longer struggling, he was thinking. Finally Rath let go of his hold on Michael and got off the couch and walked towards the door.

Rath stopped and slowly turned his head, looking at Michael from the corner of his eye. “At that moment I could’a had my way with her, but I didn’t. I’ve would’a been a substitute for the real thing.”

Michael spoke up as Rath turned the door knob, “Thanks man… and… I don’t want to every see you near her again.” Without looking back Rath nodded and left to find his “home”.
***

He sat there in the dark watching her as she slept. She had kicked her covers off the bed yet again. Even asleep, she was all over the place. Picking up the covers off the floor, he laid them on top of her, protecting her from the cold of the night. Michael gently placed a kiss on her forehead as he brushed away the strains of hair that had hidden her face. He was surprised when his kiss landed on her nose. Opening his eyes, he saw sexy green ones looking back.

“I thought you said you had to go?” she questioned in a sleepy voice.

“I did, but I couldn’t stay away for long.” He took a long look into her eyes as their lips melted into one.